As long as you respect this wisdom, you’ll probably enjoy poker for the rest of your life once you started playing. Of course, facing a bad beat is always a tough moment, because you feel injustice is done to you. Nobody has to be ashamed of this feeling; this is just natural and common for every single person. It only gets problematic when you can’t let it go after the moment has passed and you can’t place this injustice in its right perspective.

First of all, this is problematic because it will hurt your bankroll very badly. Feeling like the whole world is after you pulls you away from the state of mind in which you consider deeply every possible move in every possible situation in every possible position. This is called playing your A-game. But a bad beat creates the risk of being pulled towards a state of mind in which you forget all the moves which brought you your past profits and in which there’s only one target left: win back the money that I lost thanks to this horrible fact of injustice. This is called going on tilt, or steaming.

Of course, just like everybody else, I have steamed a few times in my poker life. But this is not healthy ladies and gentlemen. Besides, keep in mind that the injustice that is just done to you is only microscopic compared to the entire injustice that is done to humanity in general all over the world. If you’re able to do this, you’ll become a greater poker player, in skills as well as a person. That’s why I created a blog as a platform for poker players who also want to discuss other cruelties in the world than their own bad beats which they all remember so well.

Because I’ve noticed during the past years that the average poker player you’ll face in a quality live game has a large world view and is able to deliver interesting insights concerning what goes on in the world today. That’s what I like so much about poker, it’s not only a pleasant strategic game, it’s a complete social happening where people gather and interact with each other. Politicians who want to forbid this game truly underestimate the social value of this phenomenon. Sure, let’s send all those poker players to their homes, so they can sit in front of their TV and believe what’s served by the media.

So please, keep playing poker with your friends and sure, give the wall a serious punch after a bad beat, but think about worse things that could have happened to you and are happening to other people. You’re serving yourself as well this way, as it will improve your bankroll.